50 free Julia Roberts trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Coretta Scott King paid the hospital bill when Julia Roberts was born, in thanks for her parents running Atlanta's only integrated theatre troupe. Two decades later Roberts was the waitress in Mystic Pizza, the bride in Steel Magnolias and the woman in the red dress in Pretty Woman, a part she took for $300,000 after half of Hollywood turned it down. By 2000 she was the first actress paid $20 million for a film, and Erin Brockovich won her the Oscar. This quiz runs through the whole career: the early TV work, the romantic comedies that made her 'America's sweetheart', the thrillers with Denzel Washington and Mel Gibson, the Ocean's films, the record fees, the Broadway debut the critics hated, the HBO and streaming roles, Red Om Films, the Lancôme deal, the marriage to Lyle Lovett, the conversion to Hinduism and the barefoot habit that made it into Hook. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer. Play on your phone or print it for a movie night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which city was Julia Roberts born in 1967?
Atlanta
At Crawford Long Hospital. Her parents, one-time actors and playwrights, had met performing for the US Armed Forces.
Q 02Who paid the Roberts family's hospital bill when Julia was born?
Coretta Scott King
Her parents ran the region's only racially integrated theatre troupe and taught the King children; her father coached Yolanda King.
Q 03From 1972 Roberts grew up in which Georgia town?
Smyrna
She went to Fitzhugh Lee Elementary, Griffin Middle and Campbell High there. Her father died of cancer when she was ten.
Q 04What did Roberts want to be when she was a child?
A veterinarian
Instead she headed to New York after high school, signed with the Click modelling agency and took acting classes.
Q 05Which instrument did Roberts play in her school band?
Clarinet
Her older brother Eric and sister Lisa became actors too, as did her niece Emma.
Q 06Roberts's first television appearance, in 1987, was in which series?
Crime Story
She played a juvenile assault victim opposite Dennis Farina in the episode 'The Survivor'; a Miami Vice spot followed in 1988.
Q 07Roberts made her big-screen debut as a band member in which 1988 film?
Satisfaction
Liam Neeson and Justine Bateman co-starred. She had filmed two words of dialogue in Blood Red earlier, but it sat on a shelf until 1989.
Q 08In Mystic Pizza, Roberts's waitress is of which heritage?
Portuguese-American
Roger Ebert called her 'a major beauty with a fierce energy' and predicted the film would be remembered for the stars it showcased.
Q 09In Steel Magnolias, Roberts's young bride suffers from which condition?
Diabetes
The part brought her first Oscar nomination and Golden Globe win. Director Herbert Ross, Sally Field said, 'went after Julia with a vengeance'.
Q 10How much was Roberts paid for Pretty Woman?
$300,000
The film made $463.4 million and sold more US tickets than any romantic comedy ever; her red dress became one of cinema's most famous gowns.
Q 11Which of Roberts's Steel Magnolias co-stars had turned down the Pretty Woman role?
Daryl Hannah
So had Michelle Pfeiffer, Molly Ringwald, Meg Ryan, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Karen Allen.
Q 12Who directed Roberts in both Flatliners (1990) and Dying Young (1991)?
Joel Schumacher
Flatliners, about students inducing near-death experiences, split critics but became a cult film.
Q 13In Sleeping with the Enemy, Roberts's battered wife flees to start over in which state?
Iowa
Reviews were poor but it grossed $175 million, one of three 1991 releases alongside Hook and Dying Young.
Q 21Notting Hill displaced which film as the biggest British hit in cinema history?
Four Weddings and a Funeral
It earned $363 million. CNN called Roberts 'the queen of the romantic comedy [whose] reign continues'.
Q 22Runaway Bride (1999) reunited Roberts with Richard Gere and which director?
Garry Marshall
She played a woman who keeps abandoning fiancés at the altar; it grossed $309.4 million. They teamed again in 2016 for Mother's Day.
Q 23Roberts's Emmy-nominated Law & Order guest spot paired her with which actor, then her boyfriend?
Benjamin Bratt
Q 14Which character did Roberts play in Steven Spielberg's Hook?
Tinker Bell
A winged, six-inch-tall tomboy; her real-life preference for going barefoot was written into the part.
Q 15During her early-1990s hiatus, Roberts's only film appearance was a cameo in which Altman film?
The Player
The absence prompted a 1993 People cover asking 'What Happened to Julia Roberts?'
Q 16Who co-starred with Roberts in the John Grisham thriller The Pelican Brief (1993)?
Denzel Washington
She played a law student who uncovers a conspiracy; the film took $195.2 million.
Q 17What is the profession of Roberts's character in My Best Friend's Wedding?
Food critic
P. J. Hogan's film, with Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz and Rupert Everett, took $299.3 million and revived her rom-com run.
Q 18Roberts played a Justice Department attorney opposite which actor in Conspiracy Theory (1997)?
Mel Gibson
Richard Donner directed; it grossed $137 million.
Q 19Which Sesame Street character did Roberts appear opposite in 1998?
Elmo
The same year she starred with Susan Sarandon in the weepie Stepmom.
Q 20Who played the terminally ill mother opposite Roberts in Stepmom (1998)?
Susan Sarandon
Reviews were mixed-to-positive and it made $159.7 million worldwide.
The season-nine episode was 'Empire'. They dated from 1998 to 2001.
Q 24With Erin Brockovich, Roberts became the first actress paid what fee for a single film?
$20 million
The film made $256.3 million and won her the Best Actress Oscar, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and a SAG Award.
Q 25Which company does the real-life Erin Brockovich take on in the film?
PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric of California. Steven Soderbergh directed and reunited with her months later on Ocean's Eleven.
Q 26Which long-time friend did Roberts finally work with in the 2001 road comedy The Mexican?
Brad Pitt
They had been hunting for a joint project for years, then shared surprisingly little screen time in it.
Q 27In America's Sweethearts, Roberts plays the sister and assistant of a star played by whom?
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Billy Crystal and John Cusack co-starred; critics found it 'only funny in spurts' but it made over $138 million.
Q 28What is the name of Roberts's character, Danny's ex-wife, in the heist trilogy with Clooney?
Tess Ocean
Danny Ocean's ex-wife, played by Angie Dickinson in the 1960 original. Ocean's Eleven took $450 million.
Q 29Roberts's then-record $25M fee was for playing an art history professor in which film?
Mona Lisa Smile
Set at Wellesley College in 1953, Mike Newell's film was called 'predictable and safe' but made over $141 million.
Q 30Roberts replaced which actress as the photographer in Mike Nichols's Closer (2004)?
Cate Blanchett
Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen completed the quartet in Patrick Marber's adaptation of his own play.